The present invention relates to a product selection system for use, for example, in supermarkets and the like.
Supermarket customers are today presented with an enormous range of different food products. For many of the products on sale, such as fresh vegetables, fish, and meat, the content and nature of the food is obvious and easy to identify. If a person is allergic or simply wishes to avoid these types of foods, this can be done easily.
Many food producers now include a nutritional information table on the packaging, in anticipation of a legal requirement or for commercial reasons. All the tables contain four basic items of information The first is normally the number of calories in each 100 g portion, followed by the amount of fat, the amount of protein and the amount of carbohydrate. Since each figure is provided in grams per 100 g portion, the customer can compare the figures directly with other products. The nutritional information provided can then be used by customers to count the calories they are buying for dieting or for medical conditions, and/or reduce their intake of individual items such as saturated fat or salt.
Systems are known for informing a user of the ingredient content of a product. However, prior art systems are either limited in their use by being limited to the information given to the user or may be expensive, bulky or impractical due to the amount of memory space required to store information on many products.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,989 discloses a system for generating personalised nutritional information which includes means for inputting personal data relating to an individual, a barcode reader for inputting data identifying at least one food product, a processor for correlating the personal data with prestored nutritional data pertinent to the food product, and means for outputting information to the person based on the correlation. The prestored nutritional data may include information relating to allergy warnings pesticide levels and the names of individual stores which carry the foods.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,599 discloses the use of a hand-held bar code reading device to retrieve product information for users. FR-A-2702583 discloses the use of a hand-held barcode reader which is used to make purchasing decisions based on the price of selected products
The present invention seeks to provide an improved product selection system.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a product selection system for advising a user whether or not to purchase a product, including a product database comprising product data on a plurality of products, product selection means for selecting a particular product listed in the database, user preference means for determining user preferences based on selected characteristics of the product, wherein the product data includes predetermined characteristics of each product, one or more of said characteristics being unrelated to the ingredient content of a product; and data processing means operable to generate sub-database of products matching the user preferences.
In an embodiment, the product characteristics include one or more of: method of treatment or manufacture, distance product has travelled from origin, place of origin, politics of region of origin, type of labour used in manufacture or production, details of manufacturer or supplier, health risks, public health warnings associated with the product, special offers.
Preferably, the system is arranged to make a decision for a user as whether or not to purchase a selected product. The system may include means to explain to a user the reasons for the decision based upon selected product characteristics.
In the preferred embodiment, the system includes a central processing station comprising the product database and one or more mobile user devices. The or each user device is preferably hand-held.
Advantageously, the or each user device is programmable by the central processing station so as to contain a part of the product database relevant only to an identified user.
The reader may include barcode reading means for identifying a selected product from a barcode thereon. The reader may additionally or alternatively be provided with reading means for reading a product identifier other than a barcode. Such identifiers may be a code, the product name, a number or any other suitable identifier.
In an embodiment, the system includes user monitoring means for monitoring products considered for purchase by a user.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a user portable device for advising a user whether or not to purchase a product, including product identifying means for identifying a product to be tested, a database of product characteristics, means for comparing the characteristics of an identified product with user selected characteristics and means for advising a user whether or not to purchase the product on the basis of said determination, wherein the database includes only data deemed relevant for the particular user.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of advising a user whether or not to purchase a product, including the steps of determining user preferences by selection of one or more product characteristics, identifying a product selected by the user on the basis of a product identifier, determining whether the product includes one or more of the user selected product characteristics from a product database including one or more product characteristics unrelated to the ingredient content of a product, and notifying the user of the results of the determination and generating a sub-database of products matching user preferences.
There are customers who wish to buy these types of foods, but they may avoid the food product altogether, for political or lifestyle reasons, simply because information on the product is not readily available to them at the point of selection. Examples of these types of customers interests, amongst others, are:
Chemically treated produce,
The number of miles the food has travelled,
The politics of the country of origin,
The use of child labour,
Blacklisted companies,
Foods avoided for religious reasons,
Public health warnings, such as recent concerns over eggs and British beef,
Special offers.
In addition to these basic types of foods, there is an ever increasing number of processed and treated foods which are available today, where it is difficult for customers to identify quickly any individual concerns they may have over a product. This may be due to the fact that the information is simply not on the packaging, or it is listed by an unfamiliar name.
Food producers are obliged by law to list the ingredients of a packaged food product on the packaging of the product in descending order of weight. Since there are presently no legal requirements to list the amount of any ingredient in a product, it is difficult for people who restrict their consumption of certain ingredients to purchase these foods with any confidence. Moreover, there is no legal requirement for listing ingredients for alcoholic beverages (wine, beer etc.) which can also contain colourings and preservatives. Food additives are referred to by their E number or by chemical or common name, some of which may mean very little to the average customer.
It is also accepted that food producers will use their food packaging to sell the product, and unless there is a commercial or goodwill reason for highlighting a customer concern, such as low calorie foods, organic produce etc., it is unlikely to be placed on the packaging in a prominent position, the text is often in a small character size, and due to the different size and shapes of the packaging, the information may be difficult to find.
The present invention can cater for such situations and can thus provide a system which is more useful.